Field Visit
Date 8 August 1908
Event ID 1088413
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1088413
116. Hill Fort, Cockburn Law.
This fort (fig. 62) is situated around the summit of Cockburn Law, at an elevation of about 1066 feet above sea-level, its defensive lines enclosing the summit, which rises some40 feet above them. In general form the construction is oval, lying with its main axis nearly north and south, measuring some 500 feet by 380 feet over all, and some 360 feet by 280 feet in the interior. The east face at the edge of a steep natural scarp is defended by a single rampart, while at the south-west end the lines are doubled, and on the west and north-west, where access is by an easy gradient, they are trebled. They are stony mounds a few feet high and of moderate width. Towards the north the three lines cover a space of 125 feet in breadth, but as they sweep round the west flank they gradually converge, and at the south, after the cessation of the outer rampart, the two which remain are but 30 feet apart. The entrances are three, on the north-west, west, and south. That on the north-west passes obliquely through the outer and middle ramparts, and on either side of it the extremity of the middle rampart has been broken down, possibly for the site of a hut. The outer rampart is returned on either side at the opening so as to form a flanking defence. The entrance from the west occurs immediately beyond the termination of the outer rampart, and thence passes obliquely to an opening in the inner line. The south entrance is situated between the point of junction of the two inner mounds and the edge of the eastern slope. From below the south entrance and on the east side, a row of large detached boulders passes down the hill, and, returning at the north, forms an enclosure at the base of the summit.
See Antiquaries, xxix. p. 158 (plan and secs.); Christison, p. 294; Earthwork of England, pp. 194 and 203.
RCAHMS 1915, visited 8th August 1908.
OS Map: Ber., x. SW.
